Voter Reactions to a Preferential Ballot: The 2007 Scottish Local Elections

Abstract

The Single Transferable Vote (STV) has featured prominently in debates on electoral reform in Britain but until now there has been little hard evidence on how British voters might react to this electoral system. This has changed with the introduction of STV for the 2007 Scottish local government elections, which represented the first use of the system in a public election in mainland Britain in living memory. Election data collected from Scottish councils are used to examine how voters responded. After providing an overview of the elections, four issues are considered – rejected ballots, preference usage, the patterns of transfers and ballot position effects. Two main themes emerge from the analysis: voters had little difficulty in understanding and engaging with STV and in their use of lower preferences party loyalties remained important.

title = "Voter Reactions to a Preferential Ballot: The 2007 Scottish Local Elections",

abstract = "The Single Transferable Vote (STV) has featured prominently in debates on electoral reform in Britain but until now there has been little hard evidence on how British voters might react to this electoral system. This has changed with the introduction of STV for the 2007 Scottish local government elections, which represented the first use of the system in a public election in mainland Britain in living memory. Election data collected from Scottish councils are used to examine how voters responded. After providing an overview of the elections, four issues are considered – rejected ballots, preference usage, the patterns of transfers and ballot position effects. Two main themes emerge from the analysis: voters had little difficulty in understanding and engaging with STV and in their use of lower preferences party loyalties remained important.",

author = "David Denver and Alistair Clark and Lynn Bennie",

year = "2009",

month = "8",

doi = "10.1080/17457280903073963",

language = "English",

volume = "19",

pages = "265--282",

journal = "Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties",

issn = "1745-7289",

publisher = "Routledge",

number = "3",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Voter Reactions to a Preferential Ballot

T2 - The 2007 Scottish Local Elections

AU - Denver, David

AU - Clark, Alistair

AU - Bennie, Lynn

PY - 2009/8

Y1 - 2009/8

N2 - The Single Transferable Vote (STV) has featured prominently in debates on electoral reform in Britain but until now there has been little hard evidence on how British voters might react to this electoral system. This has changed with the introduction of STV for the 2007 Scottish local government elections, which represented the first use of the system in a public election in mainland Britain in living memory. Election data collected from Scottish councils are used to examine how voters responded. After providing an overview of the elections, four issues are considered – rejected ballots, preference usage, the patterns of transfers and ballot position effects. Two main themes emerge from the analysis: voters had little difficulty in understanding and engaging with STV and in their use of lower preferences party loyalties remained important.

AB - The Single Transferable Vote (STV) has featured prominently in debates on electoral reform in Britain but until now there has been little hard evidence on how British voters might react to this electoral system. This has changed with the introduction of STV for the 2007 Scottish local government elections, which represented the first use of the system in a public election in mainland Britain in living memory. Election data collected from Scottish councils are used to examine how voters responded. After providing an overview of the elections, four issues are considered – rejected ballots, preference usage, the patterns of transfers and ballot position effects. Two main themes emerge from the analysis: voters had little difficulty in understanding and engaging with STV and in their use of lower preferences party loyalties remained important.